The November issue, which contains the following instructions, will start reaching people shortly. Assuming that you've saved your polybag from your October issue as instructed, you should have no trouble following the instructions below.

If it was 150 years ago, a lush Victorian red velvet curtain would whooosh open at this moment and reveal a small glowing screen? Just one of the many anachronisms that make modern life such a mash-up. This screen takes you on a journey through magic from the early 20th century all the way to the 21st, with technology unimaginable until recently. The screen is anywhere you are at that moment, with whatever type of computer, smart phone, or iPad-like tablet you have in your hand. On the screen is a blank line, waiting for you to type in anything you want to knowfill it in and start your journey.

Its iGenii: the entire archive of every issue of Genii from the first in 1936 through the end of 2008. In January we will add all of 2009, and so one each year. 800 issues, 10,000 tricks, illusions, articles, and who knows what else.

Pretty much everything thats happened in almost the last three-quarters of a century of magic is in Genii, and now its in iGeniifree for all subscribers.

In partnership with the Conjuring Arts Research Center, your subscription to the printed edition of Genii now brings you not just 12 issues, but access to almost 100,000 pages of everything you could ever want to know about magic. Why would anyone pay $54 to subscribe to a magic magazine and receive only 12 printed issues ever again?

So, loyal subscribers, please step onto my electronic magic carpet and let me whisk you into the future this is how you access iGenii:

1. You need the polybag in which your magazine is shippedI told you last month not to throw it away when you opened this months magazine. Your Activation Key is the number printed just above your name.

3. Enter your email address where it asks for your Activation ID. Make sure its the same email address youve already provided to us.

4. Enter your Activation Key (thats your unique number just above your name on the address label on the polybag or envelope in which your magazine is shipped) in the space requested.

5. Click the Activate button. You will be brought to a new screen.

6. Enter your desired Account Name in the space provided: comprised of only letters and/or numbers, it must be five or more characters and is not case sensitive.
(Note that if you are already a member of the Conjuring Arts Research Center, please use the link provided on this screen, which will add Genii to your existing account.)

WRITE DOWN YOUR ACCOUNT NAME so you don't forget it. Please do not share it with anyone.

7. Create and enter a Password in the space provided: it must be six or more characters in length and can use any letters, numbers, or characters.

WRITE DOWN YOUR PASSWORD so you don't forget it. Please do not share it with anyone.

8. Click Log In to enter iGenii. You will be asked to re-enter your Account Name and Password. Then click enter.

You will find a screen with a line in the center which allows you to enter a word (or name, etc.), then search for all instances that word appears in every issue of Genii. If you are searching for a phrase or name, then you must put quotation marks around itDai Vernon or Elmsley Count for example.

If you wish to browse individual issues, then click on the Browse button in the navigation bar at the top and a list will appear. You have a choice of "Genii," "The Conjurors' Monthly," and "Erdnase."

Click on any one to move to a list of issues (or in the case of Expert at the Card Table, the ebook itself).

Click on any issue of a magazine to start reading on page 1.

You can move from page to page by clicking on the forward and backward arrows in the navigation bar at the upper right area of the screen.

All activation emails will have been sent by October 21. If you are a subscriber and have not received an email from us, check your junk mail inbox or spam folder. If you have a problem, click on the Problem button, fill out the form, and well get an email from you.

If you are a subscriber who would like to take advantage of iGenii and havent sent us your e-mail address yet, please do so (to: genii@geniimagazine.com).

If youre not a subscriber yet and would like to read all of this material, visit www.geniimagazine.com and subscribe today.

There is soooo much good material in these pages. I've recently been musing over my favorites in anticipation of this breakthrough. I published a list of favorite issues from the Bill Larsen era in the December 2009 issue of Little Egypt Magic and a list of favorites that I contributed to in the (current) September 2010 issue. Great memories for lots of reasons.

A lot of the credit for the concept of digitizing magic literature goes to Bill Kalush, who formed The Conjuring Arts Research Center and Ask Alexander for that purpose. He had the foresight to start down this road years ago when the rest of us thought he was nuts. He pestered me for years about making Genii a digital reality. Now it is plain that he was a visionary in our field.

If you are having trouble activating your account, please contact me at moobooks@verizon.net and include both your email address (the one you provided to us) as well as the Activation ID number from your mailing label.

richard what happens if we subscribe through someone like Alakazam in the UK... I've never seen any codes on the plastic wrap when we get the genii sent through from a UK service... we are effectively subscribers...

November issue hasn't arrive here yet... so apologises if theres already a solution explained in that issue.. :)

I've had CARC access for a few years... Genii would be a good extra resource in there for me...

Even with my infinitesimal on-line skill set I managed to log on to Ask Alexander. The search function works well.

Unfortunately, sitting here on the wife's Mac, Alex is asking me for a plug-in. Which plug-in is required is not coming up. I click on the little lego icon or the pop-up bar at the top and no further information is forthcoming.

Did a little research . . .

Aha! My browser does not display pdfs. I remember someone posted that would be the format . . .